Newlywed Perspective: A Monday Night Addiction

It happens every year. Or at least that’s the way it seems. I promise myself I won’t get sucked in, won’t end up addicted, that this time I won’t even turn on the TV. But I do. And it’s all downhill from there: my Monday night plans are made from the first sounds of that intro music.

Have you figured out what I’m talking about yet? My honest guess is that there’s more than one of you out there who knows exactly what I’m talking about: oh yes, The Bachelorette.

Confession time: I used to think that this show was officially a waste of network space. Okay, so sometimes I can still admit to myself that it is – but that’s usually only over a bowl of ice cream and a brand new, drama-filled episode. Because, despite all the cheese and theatrics and potential fame-seekers, this show is about one of my all-time favorite subjects: falling in love.

Honestly, when it comes down to it, I could probably live without The Bachelorette. I could handle life without my Monday night over-the-top, action-packed and highly produced romantic fix. I could make it through the week never wondering if Emily Maynard is really choosing the right guys.

But there’s just something about this show that keeps dragging me back to that middle seat on my couch at the beginning of each week. It’s not the bachelors, the bachelorettes, crazy locations or extreme dates. It’s knowing, deep down, that I’ve found my “bachelor” and the extreme sense of comfort and security that comes from that feeling – and getting excited about the prospect of someone else finding that comfort and that security.

It’s a crazy way to go about trying to find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with – and, admittedly, the relationships that come from the show don’t have the best track record – but it’s still that hope, that potential, that maybe-this-time feeling that puts me on the edge of my seat.

I could probably blame Shayne for all of this. I mean, if we’d never met I probably wouldn’t have turned into a pile of romance-loving goo, which means I probably wouldn’t see much appeal in this particular reality TV show. But we did, and, Bachelorette addiction included, I wouldn’t change a thing about that.

Anne is a serial optimist and hopeless romantic living in a big red barn in Colorado with her husband Shayne. She loves black and white films and making messes in the kitchen and considers life wholly incomplete without a regular dose of dark chocolate.